Archive for the ‘Gary Chopit Kustoms’ tag

Gary “Chopit” Fioto’s Beatnik, a 1955 Ford reworked into a bubbletop, took home the $20,000 grand prize at last weekend’s National Rod and Custom Car Show.
photo courtesy www.chopitkustom.com

Perhaps the most radical custom to appear at last weekend’s National Rod and Custom Car Show in Tulsa, Oklahoma, took home the top honors, including the $20,000 grand prize.
Gary “Chopit” Fioto’s Beatnik, a 1955 Ford reworked into a bubbletop, might have seemed a shoe-in, given organizer Darryl Starbird’s penchant for that style of custom cars, but even Fioto said he never would have guessed he’d win the Gold Award trophy, handed out by Starbird himself.
“I thought it’d be some pretty tough competition,” Fioto said.

Fioto, owner of Gary Chopit Kustoms in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, and formerly of Long Island, said Starbird had been an inspiration to him as far back as 1959, when he saw Starbird’s tech articles in custom car magazines. Those articles led to Fioto chopping his first top when he was 11, and a 30-year career in building customs.
He started on this particular car four years ago, removing the roof altogether for the clear canopy. A Cadillac rear end and mix of Cadillac and Lincoln front-end components bracket it, while a Chevrolet small-block V-8 with six carburetors poking through the hood powers it.
“I missed Starbird’s show last year by one day,” Fioto said.
The car did, however, take the best custom award at the March 2005 Fresno Autorama, Blackie Gejeian’s invitation-only event, and opened the door for Fioto to meet his heroes in customizing.
“This whole thing is unbelievable,” he said. “It’s beyond my wildest dreams that there’s a chance an East Coast guy could do all this.”
Fioto plans to show the car next at the Carl Casper Custom Car Show February 24-26 in Louisville, Kentucky. See more photos of the car at www.chopitkustom.com.

(This post originally appeared in the February 23, 2006, issue of the Hemmings eWeekly Newsletter.)